The current political controversy over last year’s tragedy in Benghazi, Libya, brings to mind an even greater tragedy of nearly 30 years ago in that same part of the world.
On Oct. 23, 1983, a terrorist truck-bomb was detonated at a U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. It was the biggest single-day death toll for the Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
The Marine contingent in Beiruit was subsequently moved offshore for their own protection, and four months after the bombing, President Reagan ordered the withdrawal ... Read more